Movie - Assassin's Creed (2 Blu-ray)

Assassin's Creed tells the rather bonkers story of Callum Lynch, a death row inmate, who when 'executed' wakes up in Abstergo Institute in Madrid and is to be used as a guinea pig in a program that will help the company owners look into the his ancestors past, by strapping Lynch into a device known as the Animus, where he will renact his anscestors actions, all the while the company men and women will be observing and hoping to retrieve an artifact known as the Apple, which supposedly contains the gene code of humanity's disobedience and freewill.Why didn't we notice this crazy plot before? Back in 2008 Assassin's Creed was a game that was lapped up by many gamers and became a must have title on the consoles of the day. Looking at the plot now with the film adapation, it really is totally ridiculous and has a Macguffin that is probably the most laughable in history. Yet this film is so darn admirable and so entertaining that you wonder where has enjoyment from movies gone.The film is a total subliminal guilty pleassure, so much so that you almost feel guilty for enjoying this supposed senseless dreg in the first place. Sure the film has flaws; the present day sections of the film drag come the film's halfway mark, the cinematic syndrome known as shakey cam destroys some of the action scenes set in the past and the cutting to from between present day Madrid and 1492 Andalucia where Callum's ancestor does battle, does hinder the film somewhat. The shakey cam is the biggest culprit since the action scenes look phenomenally choregraphed and would have been a marvel to see, but obviously PG-13 happy editors have hindered this art from being fully shown.Asssassin's Creed has everything going for it casting wise. Michael Fassbender, one of the best actors working today, and who has been attached to this project as producer and star for years, goes through the motions, Marion Cotillard, on the verge of hamming it, survives by giving a straight laced and naive performance, Jeremy Irons, villian extrodinare, does what he does best; and backed up by cameos by Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling, it is obvious the film is striving for something else. Director Justin Kurzel, the Austrailian indie director of Snowtown, and Macbeth was the seal approval that elevated the films expectations to the stratosphere, admirably Kurzel dives in head on and delivers on the surface a beautiful looking, a phenomenally sounding (Jed Kurzel's score is sensational) utter mess of a film that somehow delivers the entertainment factor and will no doubt give you one of the best times at the cinema, but to do so please leave all your seriousness at home and go for the hell of it.After many delays and announcements, Assassin's Creed finally arrived on our cinema screens. The film that was to change the face of video game adaptations, the film that would finally try and stop the storm of negativity sadly didn't get a chance to. The expectations that were so high literally made the critics hungry for negativity. No matter how great Assassin's Creed was as a game, it was always going to face an uphill struggle with die hard gamers moaning about its differences to the game, and snobbish critics who were just itching to get their laptops and pitchforks and create a bloodbath. This sadly happened, and along with a poor box office, Assassin's Creed's chances for a sequel, which throughly deserved one, are pretty much nill. Assassin's Creed will always remain an oddity, a film where respectability met hand in hand with a reviled genre, and created a film that was polorising, but so entertaining that you wish all blockbusters were like this.

Assassins Creed has a great deal going for it, with Fassbender playing both characters with full conviction - his 1492 ancestor, witnessed through the dna-based 'magic' of a machine named The Animus - and his modern day descendant Callum, who's a convicted murderer. It also has the benefit of Justin Kurzel, whose version of Macbeth was genuinely excellent. Kurzel films everything with a well-framed, very dramatic pace, his camera swooping and diving to follow the many athletic stunts, but rarely obscuring them in the way Michael Bay does in his Transformers pics. The plot has the potential to confuse, but is well explained by the various supporting characters and it takes inspiration from the various Assassins Creed games, although perhaps most heavily from the first. Fans (myself included) will be delighted with the parkour, leaping assassinations and fantastic stunt work as the characters carry out their missions and escapes with athletic grace and dazzling aggression. There are also several laughs in there for the series' fans, with in jokes like a smashed pigeon coop during one particularly exciting chase sequence. The locations are gorgeous, and well utilised (although there are perhaps one or two soaring bird moments too many).The characters are also better fleshed out here than most video game adaptations - feeling like they actually have personalities and motivations in most cases. The portrayal of The Animus is extremely fun and much more cinematic than the series standby of a shiny bed, and Fassbender commits to the hallucinatory after-effects with vigour as well. The film has three very exciting major action sequences that really get the blood roaring, and elevate this above the usual crop.But there it stops. Oddly, everything falls badly apart for the final ten minutes of the film, where the enemy appear to stop caring about trying to stop the Assassins - even with blatant imminent danger right in front of them - and all attempts to catch them effectively cease as well. This renders what should have been the most dramatic scene of the film such a damp squib that, for me, it turned a five star movie into four. What harmed it even more was the arrogant presumption on the part of the studio that it would be successful enough to guarantee a sequel. This leads to a character changing allegiances twice in ten minutes and setting up a blatant sequel-bait motivation that doesn't work even if the screenplay is viewed in the most charitable way possible. You get the impression that Kurzel and co were allowed to run a fantastic race and were then stopped at the last hurdle so the studio could work out how to keep the money train rolling. It's a bad decision and one that severely hurts the movie.Luckily, what's gone before is exciting and propulsive enough that I'd still recommend giving it a go.

There is much to enjoy and recommend about this film. If you've ever been a fan of AC games, then you'll more than likely enjoy this. The action sequences are great and the bits set in medieval Spain are breathtaking (though why is it always so smoky?). It feels a bit rushed, even with an almost 2 hour runtime and some aspects of the plot may be a little obtuse to those without a working knowledge of the games and AC lore. Overall though, a beautiful and very enjoyable action film.

I’ve never played the game or knew anything about this story before watching. I thought it was great! Really enjoyed it. Loved the end. I believe they intended to make a sequel but never did. That’s a shame. Love Michael Fasbender